Sunday, May 24, 2009

"Shanghai" scallion flat bread

If the scallion bread is really from Shanghai, or what the one in Shanghai looks like, sorry I can't tell. But it is what Hongkong people like to call, and this is how the vendors like to make: a bit flaky, quite chewy, very aromatic and so highly addictive!

In the 80s and 90s in HK, vendors selling Shanghai/northern-style food were used to be everywhere, sort of like pizzerias in Roma or hotdog carts in NYC. But later, they one by one disappeared, is it due to the (bad) nature of HK people who always keep changing their taste, or due to the ridiculously high rent that killed their business? My husband and I are so sad that now we only find scallion bread at fancy restaurants. In order to charge a higher price, the bread is always overdone (creating excessive flaky layers and adding some lard bites), it is more like a pastry rather than a down-earth bread...

So a few years ago I decided to make my own... started from searching the recipes on internet, testing a few, improvised a bit here or there (no need for too much as the ingredients are so simple!). Since I have been making it many times, I can just estimate the amount. So when you make it based on my recipe, please do count on your eye-n-hand judgment as well.

You know how happy for a kid when the mom hands him/her a big lollipop? I saw the same happy face on my husband when I put down a plate of scallion bread :D

When I lived in US and now in Barcelona, there are not many local stores carrying scallion. They have something similar but that's from related onion family, however, in my opinion, they can't yield the best result (e.g. the green part is too fibery, tastes too dull... or too expensive). Scallion is available at all asian supermarket, and is very, very cheap :)

Finely chop the scallion, I use the whole including the white part (but not the root though), but try to chop the white even finer as its taste is more pungent than the green part. Set aside.

Well combine the flour, 1/4 tsp salt and baking powder in a mixing bowl, set aside.

Boil the water, add in oil. Then pour most of the hot liquid into the flour mixture, stir very quickly and see how the texture goes, then pour the rest of hot liquid. The dough should be slightly sticky (it will dry up a bit when you work on it later), knead it a few minutes or until it looks smooth.

Place dough in a bowl, pre-greased, cover and rest for an hour.

Evenly divide the dough into 12 or 13 portions. Remember to cover those doughs that you are not working on.

Roll one ball of dough to a flat circle with a thickness of 0.2 or 0.3 cm thick. The dough is soft and tender, but shouldn't be sticky enough to require adding flour on work table.

Brush some oil, sprinkle a good pinch of sea salt and scallion. Check how much scallion I put on, it can go a little more, but not less.

Roll up the circle.

Coil the roll-up.

Gently press down the coil with your palm. Then roll it flatter to the thickness close to 1 cm.

Pre-heat a 9cm skillet, drizzle one teaspoon oil, place 3 slices of bread, cook for 3 or 4 minutes over medium heat. Then cook the other side for another 3 minutes.

You know how happy for a kid when the mom hands him/her a big lollipop? I saw the same happy face on my husband when I put down a plate of scallion bread.That is pure bliss!!!This looks really wonderful!